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The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin
A provocative, cutting edge exploration of obesity probes recent attempts to uncover the underlying cause of this national epidemic, from scientists breeding superobese rats to the scientific search for the obesity gene and the race to create a pill to cure the fat problem. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.
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First published September 30, 2002
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October 17, 2012
Here's food for thought from pages 230-231:
"We did not want to believe that the tobacco industry would deliberately engineer products to be addictive, or that it would mindfully prey on chlidren. Big Tobacco was doing that and worse, of course, but it did all in its formidable power to call into question the motives of advocates and agencies that threatened to expose it. So we were fooled, and fooled again.
This is precisely what Big Food is doing today. Like Big Tobacco, it is a cunning manipulator of public opinion. Like Big Tobacco, it characterizes critics as a conspiracy 'of food cops, health care enforcers, vegetarian activists and meddling bureaucrats' intent on using 'junk sciences' to build a socialist 'nanny state.' Like Big Tobacco, it makes us believe that our freedom of choice depends directly on its freedom to garner profits. And like Big Tobacco, it promises to make our lives less frantic while constantly reminding us of how frantic we are. Media messages aim to convince us that we are all cogs on a spinning wheel, too harried to think for ourselves. Many of us sense this manipulation, but nonetheless allow ourselves to be seduced, or coerced into taking what we are told is the easy path. Despite our best intentions, we abdicate control to interests that profit by our feeling powerless."
Obesity is a pandemic. In the next generation, I hope that the Big Food industry is targeted and exposed as much as the tobacco industry was brought to justice in the last 30 years.
"We did not want to believe that the tobacco industry would deliberately engineer products to be addictive, or that it would mindfully prey on chlidren. Big Tobacco was doing that and worse, of course, but it did all in its formidable power to call into question the motives of advocates and agencies that threatened to expose it. So we were fooled, and fooled again.
This is precisely what Big Food is doing today. Like Big Tobacco, it is a cunning manipulator of public opinion. Like Big Tobacco, it characterizes critics as a conspiracy 'of food cops, health care enforcers, vegetarian activists and meddling bureaucrats' intent on using 'junk sciences' to build a socialist 'nanny state.' Like Big Tobacco, it makes us believe that our freedom of choice depends directly on its freedom to garner profits. And like Big Tobacco, it promises to make our lives less frantic while constantly reminding us of how frantic we are. Media messages aim to convince us that we are all cogs on a spinning wheel, too harried to think for ourselves. Many of us sense this manipulation, but nonetheless allow ourselves to be seduced, or coerced into taking what we are told is the easy path. Despite our best intentions, we abdicate control to interests that profit by our feeling powerless."
Obesity is a pandemic. In the next generation, I hope that the Big Food industry is targeted and exposed as much as the tobacco industry was brought to justice in the last 30 years.
January 2, 2021
Read several years ago and found the notes in computer.
The Hungry Gene The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin
By Ellen Ruppel Shell
Pg 31 Bernard showed that protein can be both burned as fuel and converted into lipids to be stored as fat….Von Voit ---- formation of lipids from protein…
Pg. 52 each gene bore with it the chemical recipe for a single protein….observing the course of AKU, disorder that darkens the urine and leads to arthritis…unable to rid itself of homogentisic acid…inherited – recessive …relationship between genes and proteins that suggested chemical individuality as the paradigm of Mendelian variation.
“one gene, one enzyme” ….human genome like an encyclopedia…23 pairs of chromosomes are volumes…each volume several thousand entries/genes…each entry many paragraphs w words written in 3 letter “codons”…..
genome is a set of opportunities….likelihood of expression is called “penetrance”….provides something for the environment to act upon….a switch of G for an A….or missing letters, or additional letters…enormous impact…
Mouse mutants….mouse god, Apollo Smintheus…..(Cretans) colony of white, pink eyed albinos……Asian breeders shipped to “mouse fanciers” in Europe and America….
“ob” mouse – obese….
Agouti yellow mutant…not as fat as “ob”….called the “db” diabetic mouse….both fat and sterile….both recessive mutations…..inherit one gene from parent….later found to be on different genes and different chromosomes…
“db” mouse could go days without food, resistant to blood sugar, high blood insulin levels,
Hervey lesioned the hypothalamus of rats….ate a lot and became fat….appetites surged…
Kennedy – something in fat cells themselves that indirectly controlled feeding..”set-point”….
Doug Coleman----the first to try to ferret out the satiety factor – his friend stole his idea and job…
(Jeffrey Friedman- so called friend)
Frost Poem (1st stanza) Two Tramps in Mudtime
Out of the mud 2 strangers came
And caught me splitting wood in the yard.
And one of them put me off my aim
By hailing cheerily “Hit them hard!”
I knew pretty well why he dropped behind
And let the other go on a way.
I knew pretty well what he had in mind:
He wanted to take my job for pay.
Mary Jeanne Kreek – searching for chemicals in brain – account for addiction…behavior hard-wired in brain….similar techniques to look for CCK a chemical made in gut and brain to regulate appetite…. Later found not to be satiety factor….on chromosome 9….
Ob on chromosome 6…..
Friedman---- liver regeneration….2/3rd removed (mouse) – can rebuild….within 72 hrs…Cancer cells have a similar talent….rapid, controlled cell proliferation ….later - oncogenes do pay a role in cellular proliferation….
Liebel – worked on child nutrition and universal immunization ….alarming links between low iron levels and learning difficulties in children…a slight deficiency in a micronutrient could so profoundly affect the brain ….other possible links between diet and brain…SOMETHING AMISS IN THE PHYSIOLOGY AND ETIOLOGY OF OBESITY…..
Volunteers to eat themselves fat….only 20 made it through the 200 days and all lost excess pounds except 2…..most difficult to lose weight had the least difficulty gaining it…..family history of obesity.
“homeostasis”….genetically inclined to reach homeostasis at a higher weight than were others….genetic proclivity….
Sim and Keys studies – volunteers put on starvation diets….signal that tells the body to eat of not eat…..signal from body fat to brain to protect fat stores….to support growth and fertility….connection between body fat and fertility….study of female atheletes to maintain fertility – had to have minimum of body fat 12%…..
Genetically “set” to sprout a cerain number of fat cells….can be “reset’ by maninulating diet at different points in animals development….
Babies – 5 billion fat cells, 1/5th of average adult allotment….adipocytes vary in size,
3 months – fat cells increase and continue thru adolescent…..existing cells pump up with lipds, new fat cells grow….avg adults 25 – 30 billion fat cells….
All cells stubbornly resist obliteration…hit the “wall” - shrinking fat cells strike back….sending more frantic “eat “ signals ….drown out all other message to the brain…
Pg 85
A REDUCED OBESE PERSON IS NOT THE SAME AS ANOTHER PERSON OF THE SAME WEIGHT WHO HAS NEVER BEEN OBESE….THEIR BRAINS ARE DIFFERENT.
Pg 87….Vitalism – 19 century theory….living differ from nonliving – have an intangible inner energy….held until Wohler’s synthesis of an organic molecule….if molecules of living things could be made by man, there was nothing vital about them….legacy of vitalism lived on in the new alchemy of psychology….outside of biological control….vitalist theories of eating ….
Ob mouse – example of biologically driven eating…single gene dictated behavior…
Gene’s expression is evidenced by RNA (template for making protein) …case of ob – normal protein is longer than the mutated protein…premature stop signal indicate it is a mutant…..found in a fat cell….it’s protein a small molecule that functioned as a hormone….2 versions of the ob gene: ob2J –not make satiety factor (no RNA) and ob which made an overproduction of the satiety factor.(did made RNA) .
2 different mutations in the ob gene had affected levels of an adipocyte-specific mRNA encoded by the gene they had mapped to the location where the ob gene occurred…..
pg 98 ….found the ob gene coded for a protein of 167 amino acids, the ob protein, ……ob2j - change in a single base pair: a simple trade of thymine for cytosine…..called it leptin.
Stephen O’Rahilly -english u of Cambridge…societies mistaking overweight as a manifestation of moral turptitude – or exploiting it as another way to bash and marginalize the poor…….people who are not victims have claimed the moral high ground, they believe themselves to be virtuous, but the truth is, they are just lucky.
Obesity and poverty are to some degree linked….cost of foods, time to exercise,
O’Rahilly’s impatience with class arrogance runs deep….beautiful that chemicals could act like messages ……..endocrinologist….diabetes research…not interested in propecting for genes unless they showed therapeutic promise……sent him patients with baffling metabolic syndromes…offer clues to genetic roots of obesity and diabetes….
Ex: pair of Pakistani cousins – healthy but obese….
Accounts of near-starvation experiences….preoccupation & obsession with food…
Pakistani cousins – obsession that could not quench………….their leptin levels were nonexistent……leptin genes showed the same defect, the absence of a single nucleic acid, guanine…..homozygous for this defect…had malformations in the both copies of their leptin genes…..parent’s – heterozygous for the obese mutation…each had one copy of the gene in its normal form and one copy of its mutated form….intermarriage of cousins had allowed this mutation to surface….bodies were telling their brains they were starving….paniced when out of sight of food….
Trials of injected leptin…mixed results…worked with some, not with others, ……gave injections to cousins…worked and meant that leptin perfoms an important function in humans….
Proof: that tiny defect in a single gene – profound impact on human behavior…drive to overeat has deep genetic roots…..presence of genes as a regulator of body weight….
1997 – dozen people have leptin mutation….highly inbred families…leptin defect – do not menstrate…..humans with ob mutation are infertile….
Findings of women athletes failing to menstrauate – extremely thin women don’t have enough leptin-producing fat to turn on their fertility….a heightening of appetite, a reduction of fertility is protective…..decline in leptin is a warning signal that something is wrong…..without leptin the body does everything possible to minimize energy expenditure and maximize energy intake….
Leptin is not analogous to insulin….with the exception of those with the ob mutation the obese never seem to lose their ability to produce massive amounts of leptin…
Pathways connecting leptin to fertility and appetite….
Complexity – neurocircuitry labyrinthine …..involves dozens of genes, hormones, receptors and peptides….
Maybe cells have difficulty “hearing” the leptin signal…receptors missing or not working properly or lost their sensitivity to leptin signal…developed leptin resistance over time…..
Tartaglia…cloned the first letpin receptor….role of leptin receptor in body weight regulation…leptin receptor and the db gene product are one and the same…db - fat because they unable to respond to leptin…
Possible that a particular diet can muffle the the leptin signal….
Pg 120…..Mararet – always fat…never menstruated, frequent bouts of shakes, sweating, dizziness…..got drowsy and fell asleep easilyl….had plenty of leptin….lacked insulin but was not diabetic….her blood had loads of proinsulin, an immature and partially effective form of insulin produced in beta cells….gene PC1, defective……..lacked the enzyme to process POMC (appetite-suppressing proteins activated by leptin)….a single genetic defect had disrupted both her blood sugar and leptin pathway…..
Obesity – symptom of rare genetic syndrome……
I think that biological determinism has a degree of human decency and kindness about it that is completely absent from the environmentalist view espoused by puritans who want to make everyone behave in a certain way…..
Obesity is morally neutral and I have no problem seeing it as a biological problem….is a disease as needing of treatment as any other…..
Obesity science – vindicates an approach that emphasized biology over “willpower” ….result of complex interactions of genes and environment…..
Schematic of leptin pathway begins with fat cell, leptin produced, …slew of molecules that activate different groups of nerve cells in hypothalamic region…..dozens of brain and gut peptides….implicated ….appetite stimulating neuropeptides are NPY and AGRP…..appetite-inhibiting neuropeptides POMC and CART…….
A single glitch in a gene coding for a protein that normally turns down appetite…..will crank up our demand for food…
Study of 600 obese children…….24 defect in melanocortin-4 (MC-4) – receptor in the brain for alpha-MSH, a protein made form POMC(reduces appetite)….
5% of obese children carry mutations in melanocortin system….most common genetic defect associated with obesity….
Pg. 124….While infectious disease disproportionately affects people in the underdeveloped world (cannot afford drugs) , obesity linked disorders strike hardest in wealthiest populations….wall street unmoved by latest malaria drug….thrills at obesity ….worried, weighty the largest, wealthiest drug market in history….
Pg. 125 ….obesity specialist…..financially connected to food industries….purveyors of weight loss drugs and diet plans feather the nests of specialists who vouch for them….corporate patrons expect to get what they pay for….talk up benefits and play down risks…..
Ex: olestra ……Meridia (raises blood pressure)…..blood pressure – clear evidence of prolonging life…none for weight loss drugs…doctors prescribe based on marginal performance in short-term trials….
Fen-phen…..pulmonary hypertension (breathlessness, debilitating fatigue, death with in 3 yrs)…rare, dangerous lung condition…..attacks women between ages of 21 and 40….
Wyeth-Ayerst….left nothing to chance….paying medical publisher Excerpta Medica 20,00 a pop to ghostwrite scientific articles on health risks associated with obesity….submitted under the authorship of famous obesity scientists paid 1,000 to 1500 for loan of their name….
1997 – 24 Redux linked cases of heart valve damage….FDA took from market….
Woman named Rose took fen-phen…..breathless on short walks,, gaining weight due to retaining fluid….congestive heart failure….primary pulmonary hypertension…damaged heart valve…
“I was the victim of a pie chart.” ….some will get sick and die, will be lawsuits…so much money to be made ….long run come out ahead…
increasing chunk of marketing is directed at consumers to get them to request drugs from doctors….doctors do not now any more about the drugs than the companies tell them about ….benefits of drugs trumpeted louder than the risks…
Xenical acts in the gut….before a meal…causes 1/3 of consumed fat to flush the gut undigested……..like the aversion drug that discourages alcohol abuse by altering ability to metabolize it…..gas with oily discharge, increased bowel movements, urgent need to have them, inability to control them, (especially after fatty meals)…….serious side effects…..adverse complications for diabetics and liver failure….
Metabolite – owner Ellis – methamphetamine lab bust….meth is chemically related to ephedrine….first marketed as Fosslip, a bodybuilding formular w ephedrine devivative….
The more lean body mass the higher metabolic rate….ironic thing…in order to support their higher body weight, the obese tend to have, more fat, a higher than average lean body mass and higher than average metabolic rate…..
Ex: Jon 1,400 lbs – 80% fat – leaves 320 lbs bone, organ, lean muscle mass……energy expended to support…had to be enormous…
White fat stores energy….brown fat burns energy….newborns….inside brown fat is protein…output energy by disarming the process that turns energy to fat…. 3 new varieties of UCP --- UCP2, UCP3 and UCP 4………cause them to burn rather than store energy…all UCP activity ….increase in body temperature, never ending hot flash….also increase in free radicals…
Obese remain obese despite more than average metabolism…..
Call for combination drug treatments…one to raise metabolism and one to dull appetite, one to increase the burning of fat and inhibit the making of body fat….
COMBINATION FOOD STRATEGIES (my note)
Pg. 151….Kosrae…..south pacific island….big killer – “New World Syndrome” …constellation of maladies brought on by Westernization of a traditional culture….diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure……imported food is cheap….local food is expensive…preference for easy preparation….
Nauru – subsist on imported foods from US - processed foods with salt, sugar and fat….highest rates of diabetes and gout……
Pg. 158 Nearby- Kiribati …33 small islands…….eat fish, papaya, pumpkin, breadfruit….lowest rates of noncomumminicable disease in South Pacific…..
Kosrea – Vit A deficiency – weakens their immunity …more susceptible to upper respiratory illnesses….(solved if eat abundant papaya or mango)…….
CDC – Micronesian One Diet Fits All Today (MODFAT) …..eat food locally grown…
WHICH GENETICALLY LINKED BIOLOGICAL FEATURES PROTECT AGAINST OBESITY AND WHICH ENCOURAGE IT…….Kosreans posses a heritate that might answer that question…trace ancestry back 3,000 yrs Indo-Malayan mariners….Melanesians…….
The Hungry Gene The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin
By Ellen Ruppel Shell
Pg 31 Bernard showed that protein can be both burned as fuel and converted into lipids to be stored as fat….Von Voit ---- formation of lipids from protein…
Pg. 52 each gene bore with it the chemical recipe for a single protein….observing the course of AKU, disorder that darkens the urine and leads to arthritis…unable to rid itself of homogentisic acid…inherited – recessive …relationship between genes and proteins that suggested chemical individuality as the paradigm of Mendelian variation.
“one gene, one enzyme” ….human genome like an encyclopedia…23 pairs of chromosomes are volumes…each volume several thousand entries/genes…each entry many paragraphs w words written in 3 letter “codons”…..
genome is a set of opportunities….likelihood of expression is called “penetrance”….provides something for the environment to act upon….a switch of G for an A….or missing letters, or additional letters…enormous impact…
Mouse mutants….mouse god, Apollo Smintheus…..(Cretans) colony of white, pink eyed albinos……Asian breeders shipped to “mouse fanciers” in Europe and America….
“ob” mouse – obese….
Agouti yellow mutant…not as fat as “ob”….called the “db” diabetic mouse….both fat and sterile….both recessive mutations…..inherit one gene from parent….later found to be on different genes and different chromosomes…
“db” mouse could go days without food, resistant to blood sugar, high blood insulin levels,
Hervey lesioned the hypothalamus of rats….ate a lot and became fat….appetites surged…
Kennedy – something in fat cells themselves that indirectly controlled feeding..”set-point”….
Doug Coleman----the first to try to ferret out the satiety factor – his friend stole his idea and job…
(Jeffrey Friedman- so called friend)
Frost Poem (1st stanza) Two Tramps in Mudtime
Out of the mud 2 strangers came
And caught me splitting wood in the yard.
And one of them put me off my aim
By hailing cheerily “Hit them hard!”
I knew pretty well why he dropped behind
And let the other go on a way.
I knew pretty well what he had in mind:
He wanted to take my job for pay.
Mary Jeanne Kreek – searching for chemicals in brain – account for addiction…behavior hard-wired in brain….similar techniques to look for CCK a chemical made in gut and brain to regulate appetite…. Later found not to be satiety factor….on chromosome 9….
Ob on chromosome 6…..
Friedman---- liver regeneration….2/3rd removed (mouse) – can rebuild….within 72 hrs…Cancer cells have a similar talent….rapid, controlled cell proliferation ….later - oncogenes do pay a role in cellular proliferation….
Liebel – worked on child nutrition and universal immunization ….alarming links between low iron levels and learning difficulties in children…a slight deficiency in a micronutrient could so profoundly affect the brain ….other possible links between diet and brain…SOMETHING AMISS IN THE PHYSIOLOGY AND ETIOLOGY OF OBESITY…..
Volunteers to eat themselves fat….only 20 made it through the 200 days and all lost excess pounds except 2…..most difficult to lose weight had the least difficulty gaining it…..family history of obesity.
“homeostasis”….genetically inclined to reach homeostasis at a higher weight than were others….genetic proclivity….
Sim and Keys studies – volunteers put on starvation diets….signal that tells the body to eat of not eat…..signal from body fat to brain to protect fat stores….to support growth and fertility….connection between body fat and fertility….study of female atheletes to maintain fertility – had to have minimum of body fat 12%…..
Genetically “set” to sprout a cerain number of fat cells….can be “reset’ by maninulating diet at different points in animals development….
Babies – 5 billion fat cells, 1/5th of average adult allotment….adipocytes vary in size,
3 months – fat cells increase and continue thru adolescent…..existing cells pump up with lipds, new fat cells grow….avg adults 25 – 30 billion fat cells….
All cells stubbornly resist obliteration…hit the “wall” - shrinking fat cells strike back….sending more frantic “eat “ signals ….drown out all other message to the brain…
Pg 85
A REDUCED OBESE PERSON IS NOT THE SAME AS ANOTHER PERSON OF THE SAME WEIGHT WHO HAS NEVER BEEN OBESE….THEIR BRAINS ARE DIFFERENT.
Pg 87….Vitalism – 19 century theory….living differ from nonliving – have an intangible inner energy….held until Wohler’s synthesis of an organic molecule….if molecules of living things could be made by man, there was nothing vital about them….legacy of vitalism lived on in the new alchemy of psychology….outside of biological control….vitalist theories of eating ….
Ob mouse – example of biologically driven eating…single gene dictated behavior…
Gene’s expression is evidenced by RNA (template for making protein) …case of ob – normal protein is longer than the mutated protein…premature stop signal indicate it is a mutant…..found in a fat cell….it’s protein a small molecule that functioned as a hormone….2 versions of the ob gene: ob2J –not make satiety factor (no RNA) and ob which made an overproduction of the satiety factor.(did made RNA) .
2 different mutations in the ob gene had affected levels of an adipocyte-specific mRNA encoded by the gene they had mapped to the location where the ob gene occurred…..
pg 98 ….found the ob gene coded for a protein of 167 amino acids, the ob protein, ……ob2j - change in a single base pair: a simple trade of thymine for cytosine…..called it leptin.
Stephen O’Rahilly -english u of Cambridge…societies mistaking overweight as a manifestation of moral turptitude – or exploiting it as another way to bash and marginalize the poor…….people who are not victims have claimed the moral high ground, they believe themselves to be virtuous, but the truth is, they are just lucky.
Obesity and poverty are to some degree linked….cost of foods, time to exercise,
O’Rahilly’s impatience with class arrogance runs deep….beautiful that chemicals could act like messages ……..endocrinologist….diabetes research…not interested in propecting for genes unless they showed therapeutic promise……sent him patients with baffling metabolic syndromes…offer clues to genetic roots of obesity and diabetes….
Ex: pair of Pakistani cousins – healthy but obese….
Accounts of near-starvation experiences….preoccupation & obsession with food…
Pakistani cousins – obsession that could not quench………….their leptin levels were nonexistent……leptin genes showed the same defect, the absence of a single nucleic acid, guanine…..homozygous for this defect…had malformations in the both copies of their leptin genes…..parent’s – heterozygous for the obese mutation…each had one copy of the gene in its normal form and one copy of its mutated form….intermarriage of cousins had allowed this mutation to surface….bodies were telling their brains they were starving….paniced when out of sight of food….
Trials of injected leptin…mixed results…worked with some, not with others, ……gave injections to cousins…worked and meant that leptin perfoms an important function in humans….
Proof: that tiny defect in a single gene – profound impact on human behavior…drive to overeat has deep genetic roots…..presence of genes as a regulator of body weight….
1997 – dozen people have leptin mutation….highly inbred families…leptin defect – do not menstrate…..humans with ob mutation are infertile….
Findings of women athletes failing to menstrauate – extremely thin women don’t have enough leptin-producing fat to turn on their fertility….a heightening of appetite, a reduction of fertility is protective…..decline in leptin is a warning signal that something is wrong…..without leptin the body does everything possible to minimize energy expenditure and maximize energy intake….
Leptin is not analogous to insulin….with the exception of those with the ob mutation the obese never seem to lose their ability to produce massive amounts of leptin…
Pathways connecting leptin to fertility and appetite….
Complexity – neurocircuitry labyrinthine …..involves dozens of genes, hormones, receptors and peptides….
Maybe cells have difficulty “hearing” the leptin signal…receptors missing or not working properly or lost their sensitivity to leptin signal…developed leptin resistance over time…..
Tartaglia…cloned the first letpin receptor….role of leptin receptor in body weight regulation…leptin receptor and the db gene product are one and the same…db - fat because they unable to respond to leptin…
Possible that a particular diet can muffle the the leptin signal….
Pg 120…..Mararet – always fat…never menstruated, frequent bouts of shakes, sweating, dizziness…..got drowsy and fell asleep easilyl….had plenty of leptin….lacked insulin but was not diabetic….her blood had loads of proinsulin, an immature and partially effective form of insulin produced in beta cells….gene PC1, defective……..lacked the enzyme to process POMC (appetite-suppressing proteins activated by leptin)….a single genetic defect had disrupted both her blood sugar and leptin pathway…..
Obesity – symptom of rare genetic syndrome……
I think that biological determinism has a degree of human decency and kindness about it that is completely absent from the environmentalist view espoused by puritans who want to make everyone behave in a certain way…..
Obesity is morally neutral and I have no problem seeing it as a biological problem….is a disease as needing of treatment as any other…..
Obesity science – vindicates an approach that emphasized biology over “willpower” ….result of complex interactions of genes and environment…..
Schematic of leptin pathway begins with fat cell, leptin produced, …slew of molecules that activate different groups of nerve cells in hypothalamic region…..dozens of brain and gut peptides….implicated ….appetite stimulating neuropeptides are NPY and AGRP…..appetite-inhibiting neuropeptides POMC and CART…….
A single glitch in a gene coding for a protein that normally turns down appetite…..will crank up our demand for food…
Study of 600 obese children…….24 defect in melanocortin-4 (MC-4) – receptor in the brain for alpha-MSH, a protein made form POMC(reduces appetite)….
5% of obese children carry mutations in melanocortin system….most common genetic defect associated with obesity….
Pg. 124….While infectious disease disproportionately affects people in the underdeveloped world (cannot afford drugs) , obesity linked disorders strike hardest in wealthiest populations….wall street unmoved by latest malaria drug….thrills at obesity ….worried, weighty the largest, wealthiest drug market in history….
Pg. 125 ….obesity specialist…..financially connected to food industries….purveyors of weight loss drugs and diet plans feather the nests of specialists who vouch for them….corporate patrons expect to get what they pay for….talk up benefits and play down risks…..
Ex: olestra ……Meridia (raises blood pressure)…..blood pressure – clear evidence of prolonging life…none for weight loss drugs…doctors prescribe based on marginal performance in short-term trials….
Fen-phen…..pulmonary hypertension (breathlessness, debilitating fatigue, death with in 3 yrs)…rare, dangerous lung condition…..attacks women between ages of 21 and 40….
Wyeth-Ayerst….left nothing to chance….paying medical publisher Excerpta Medica 20,00 a pop to ghostwrite scientific articles on health risks associated with obesity….submitted under the authorship of famous obesity scientists paid 1,000 to 1500 for loan of their name….
1997 – 24 Redux linked cases of heart valve damage….FDA took from market….
Woman named Rose took fen-phen…..breathless on short walks,, gaining weight due to retaining fluid….congestive heart failure….primary pulmonary hypertension…damaged heart valve…
“I was the victim of a pie chart.” ….some will get sick and die, will be lawsuits…so much money to be made ….long run come out ahead…
increasing chunk of marketing is directed at consumers to get them to request drugs from doctors….doctors do not now any more about the drugs than the companies tell them about ….benefits of drugs trumpeted louder than the risks…
Xenical acts in the gut….before a meal…causes 1/3 of consumed fat to flush the gut undigested……..like the aversion drug that discourages alcohol abuse by altering ability to metabolize it…..gas with oily discharge, increased bowel movements, urgent need to have them, inability to control them, (especially after fatty meals)…….serious side effects…..adverse complications for diabetics and liver failure….
Metabolite – owner Ellis – methamphetamine lab bust….meth is chemically related to ephedrine….first marketed as Fosslip, a bodybuilding formular w ephedrine devivative….
The more lean body mass the higher metabolic rate….ironic thing…in order to support their higher body weight, the obese tend to have, more fat, a higher than average lean body mass and higher than average metabolic rate…..
Ex: Jon 1,400 lbs – 80% fat – leaves 320 lbs bone, organ, lean muscle mass……energy expended to support…had to be enormous…
White fat stores energy….brown fat burns energy….newborns….inside brown fat is protein…output energy by disarming the process that turns energy to fat…. 3 new varieties of UCP --- UCP2, UCP3 and UCP 4………cause them to burn rather than store energy…all UCP activity ….increase in body temperature, never ending hot flash….also increase in free radicals…
Obese remain obese despite more than average metabolism…..
Call for combination drug treatments…one to raise metabolism and one to dull appetite, one to increase the burning of fat and inhibit the making of body fat….
COMBINATION FOOD STRATEGIES (my note)
Pg. 151….Kosrae…..south pacific island….big killer – “New World Syndrome” …constellation of maladies brought on by Westernization of a traditional culture….diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure……imported food is cheap….local food is expensive…preference for easy preparation….
Nauru – subsist on imported foods from US - processed foods with salt, sugar and fat….highest rates of diabetes and gout……
Pg. 158 Nearby- Kiribati …33 small islands…….eat fish, papaya, pumpkin, breadfruit….lowest rates of noncomumminicable disease in South Pacific…..
Kosrea – Vit A deficiency – weakens their immunity …more susceptible to upper respiratory illnesses….(solved if eat abundant papaya or mango)…….
CDC – Micronesian One Diet Fits All Today (MODFAT) …..eat food locally grown…
WHICH GENETICALLY LINKED BIOLOGICAL FEATURES PROTECT AGAINST OBESITY AND WHICH ENCOURAGE IT…….Kosreans posses a heritate that might answer that question…trace ancestry back 3,000 yrs Indo-Malayan mariners….Melanesians…….
August 29, 2019
Super-sizing the proles
Science journalist Ellen Shell notes near the end of this fascinating study about being fat and how we got that way that "Twenty-seven percent of Americans are already obese." She predicts that, unless something is done, "virtually all Americans will be overweight by 2030, and half will be obese." (p. 230)
Why? Lack of will-power? Lack of exercise? Our genetic constitution? Ignorance? Indoctrination through advertising by the fast and junk food industries? Answer: all of the above except lack of will-power. When it comes to eating, will-power really has nothing to do with it. Food is a "drug" we can't quit cold turkey. Abstinence is impossible. We must eat, and so the temptation to overeat and/or eat the wrong foods will always be with us. Not only that but we are constantly being bombarded with messages from the purveyors of food to eat this, eat that, eat more, more and more. Super-sizing the proles is a massively huge business.
So what to do? Are we looking at a future in which most of us are round mounds of huffing and puffing blubber subject to diabetes and an early death? Shell is hopeful. She believes that if we can somehow regulate the fast food industry in a manner similar to way we are regulating the tobacco industry (see the final chapter), if we educate the public, and turn down the constant din of fast and junk food advertizing, and keep sodas and junk food out of our schools while increasing exercise programs especially for school children, there is hope. However, as Shell illustrates graphically by the story she tells on herself to end Chapter Ten, it is more likely that instead of exercising, we will get into the car, "rev the engine, and steer toward dinner."
Regardless of how daunting the public health task of reducing obesity is, Shell makes it a fascinating read. She writes about the morbidly obese and their struggles with stomach stapling and gastric banding; about cultures lured away from their native diets by Spam, pizza and sugared sodas so that virtually everyone from child to adult is fat and many are diabetic (e.g., the Kosraen islanders of the South Pacific); about "Natural Born Freaks" (Chapter Three) children born with a genetic defect that makes them constantly hungry no matter how much or how often they eat; about being hungry during wartime or during food-deprivation experiments in which the hungry can think and talk of nothing but food and more food; and especially about "Big Food" which views critics as "food cops...intent on using junk science to build a socialist nanny state" (p. 230)
As I read the book and followed Shell's research I could see her learning the melancholy lesson that "Obesity represents a triumph of instinct over reason" (p. 221). I could sense her early optimism giving way to a realization that "The labyrinth of genes, peptides, and hormones regulating food intake is dense and byzantine, extremely difficult to fool or to manipulate." (p. 147) This is a lesson that Shell presents well. What it means is that all those scientists looking for the magic pill that will allow us to "lose pounds fast" (and incidentally make big bucks for themselves and their employer) are not likely to be successful any time soon.
Most of us know, as Shell reports, that people who go on diets of any kind may initially lose weight, but almost invariably gain it all back and usually with pounds to boot. The reason quite simply is that we can't fool mother nature. The evolutionary mechanism has structured in us the very fine ability to eat when there is a bounty of food so that we can put on fat to survive the inevitable times of lean. This is what we are good at. It is one of our talents. Mother nature isn't about to leave fat-storage to chance in human beings anymore than it leaves reproduction to chance. Dieting is just a mimicking of a time of lean. It has no lasting value as fat-reducing behavior.
Shell's prescription for individuals is the obvious and the very difficult one: turn off the TV, get off the couch, don't get into that vehicle, in fact trade the entire TV/car culture in for one in which we walk a whole lot more, actively recreate a lot more, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less high-fat and high-carb foods...in other words do those things that in fact we are not likely to do.
This is a very readable, well-researched, and incisive look at what is rapidly becoming the number one public health problem in not only the United States but world-wide. Shell covers the subject well and writes the kind of prose that turns pages and makes a difficult subject readily accessible.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Science journalist Ellen Shell notes near the end of this fascinating study about being fat and how we got that way that "Twenty-seven percent of Americans are already obese." She predicts that, unless something is done, "virtually all Americans will be overweight by 2030, and half will be obese." (p. 230)
Why? Lack of will-power? Lack of exercise? Our genetic constitution? Ignorance? Indoctrination through advertising by the fast and junk food industries? Answer: all of the above except lack of will-power. When it comes to eating, will-power really has nothing to do with it. Food is a "drug" we can't quit cold turkey. Abstinence is impossible. We must eat, and so the temptation to overeat and/or eat the wrong foods will always be with us. Not only that but we are constantly being bombarded with messages from the purveyors of food to eat this, eat that, eat more, more and more. Super-sizing the proles is a massively huge business.
So what to do? Are we looking at a future in which most of us are round mounds of huffing and puffing blubber subject to diabetes and an early death? Shell is hopeful. She believes that if we can somehow regulate the fast food industry in a manner similar to way we are regulating the tobacco industry (see the final chapter), if we educate the public, and turn down the constant din of fast and junk food advertizing, and keep sodas and junk food out of our schools while increasing exercise programs especially for school children, there is hope. However, as Shell illustrates graphically by the story she tells on herself to end Chapter Ten, it is more likely that instead of exercising, we will get into the car, "rev the engine, and steer toward dinner."
Regardless of how daunting the public health task of reducing obesity is, Shell makes it a fascinating read. She writes about the morbidly obese and their struggles with stomach stapling and gastric banding; about cultures lured away from their native diets by Spam, pizza and sugared sodas so that virtually everyone from child to adult is fat and many are diabetic (e.g., the Kosraen islanders of the South Pacific); about "Natural Born Freaks" (Chapter Three) children born with a genetic defect that makes them constantly hungry no matter how much or how often they eat; about being hungry during wartime or during food-deprivation experiments in which the hungry can think and talk of nothing but food and more food; and especially about "Big Food" which views critics as "food cops...intent on using junk science to build a socialist nanny state" (p. 230)
As I read the book and followed Shell's research I could see her learning the melancholy lesson that "Obesity represents a triumph of instinct over reason" (p. 221). I could sense her early optimism giving way to a realization that "The labyrinth of genes, peptides, and hormones regulating food intake is dense and byzantine, extremely difficult to fool or to manipulate." (p. 147) This is a lesson that Shell presents well. What it means is that all those scientists looking for the magic pill that will allow us to "lose pounds fast" (and incidentally make big bucks for themselves and their employer) are not likely to be successful any time soon.
Most of us know, as Shell reports, that people who go on diets of any kind may initially lose weight, but almost invariably gain it all back and usually with pounds to boot. The reason quite simply is that we can't fool mother nature. The evolutionary mechanism has structured in us the very fine ability to eat when there is a bounty of food so that we can put on fat to survive the inevitable times of lean. This is what we are good at. It is one of our talents. Mother nature isn't about to leave fat-storage to chance in human beings anymore than it leaves reproduction to chance. Dieting is just a mimicking of a time of lean. It has no lasting value as fat-reducing behavior.
Shell's prescription for individuals is the obvious and the very difficult one: turn off the TV, get off the couch, don't get into that vehicle, in fact trade the entire TV/car culture in for one in which we walk a whole lot more, actively recreate a lot more, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less high-fat and high-carb foods...in other words do those things that in fact we are not likely to do.
This is a very readable, well-researched, and incisive look at what is rapidly becoming the number one public health problem in not only the United States but world-wide. Shell covers the subject well and writes the kind of prose that turns pages and makes a difficult subject readily accessible.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
March 1, 2019
I disagree with the many negative comments I've read about this book.
Of course, it stems from a different time. When this book was written, "Super Size Me" had not been released yet. Epigenetics had not been discovered yet. Many substances criticized in the book have been discontinued or banned. Although not long ago, the world was a very different place.
So of course, it you would be looking for the most up-to-date scientific information on obesity, this would be the wrong place to look for it.
Still, this book is worth reading today.
A large part of the book is about the history of obesity research. The past didn't change, and this is still very interesting to read.
But besides that, most of the criticisms in this book are still valid today. The last chapter can be seen as a call to action. The same actions being called for are still needed today.
We've approved regulations to stop tobacco. The author calls for legislation to stop obesity in a similar way. I agree that this is still needed today, and still close to non-existent.
So if you ask me, the main premise of this book is still as valid today as it was in this other world of the past.
Of course, it stems from a different time. When this book was written, "Super Size Me" had not been released yet. Epigenetics had not been discovered yet. Many substances criticized in the book have been discontinued or banned. Although not long ago, the world was a very different place.
So of course, it you would be looking for the most up-to-date scientific information on obesity, this would be the wrong place to look for it.
Still, this book is worth reading today.
A large part of the book is about the history of obesity research. The past didn't change, and this is still very interesting to read.
But besides that, most of the criticisms in this book are still valid today. The last chapter can be seen as a call to action. The same actions being called for are still needed today.
We've approved regulations to stop tobacco. The author calls for legislation to stop obesity in a similar way. I agree that this is still needed today, and still close to non-existent.
So if you ask me, the main premise of this book is still as valid today as it was in this other world of the past.
February 26, 2017
Meh
I realize, having gone to med school and having read about a dozen books on various aspects of the obesity epidemic, that I came to this book with a bit more knowledge about the biochemistry and physiology of hunger and satiety and obesity than most. So the fact that it taught me very little that was new should be taken with a grain of salt (or not, depending on your diet). But I found the stories she told less than compelling, and she bounced from one topic to another with no thread other than having to deal with obesity in some fashion.
And maybe it's the fact that I'm reading this about 10 years late, but it feels very dated in some fashions. Clearly, this is not a book to be enjoyed years later. It was, for its time, a contemporary overview of various issues dealing with obesity. But if you haven't read it by now, skip it. There are SOOO many better books out there on this subject.
I realize, having gone to med school and having read about a dozen books on various aspects of the obesity epidemic, that I came to this book with a bit more knowledge about the biochemistry and physiology of hunger and satiety and obesity than most. So the fact that it taught me very little that was new should be taken with a grain of salt (or not, depending on your diet). But I found the stories she told less than compelling, and she bounced from one topic to another with no thread other than having to deal with obesity in some fashion.
And maybe it's the fact that I'm reading this about 10 years late, but it feels very dated in some fashions. Clearly, this is not a book to be enjoyed years later. It was, for its time, a contemporary overview of various issues dealing with obesity. But if you haven't read it by now, skip it. There are SOOO many better books out there on this subject.
March 5, 2017
Very dated, the information in this book (published in 2002) has been overtaken by both science and observations. Desperately needs an update! It is amazing how far the field has moved in 15 years. If you are looking for good information in the area, find a more recent book. Her writing is also unfocused and lacks style, but if the information were more up-to-date that could be forgiven.
September 3, 2008
In the book The Hungry Gene, the author focuses on obesity and finding the satiety factor for treating it. As it mentions in the book, obesity is one of the biggest problem that the world is facing. In the U.S. “34 percent of adults overweight and an addition 27 percent obese” (3). So as other countries in the world, same problems occurred.
As it describes in the book, some scientist devoted their whole live on finding treatments for obesity, for instance Coleman. He first experiment with mice, and investigates where mutation happened that makes the mice becomes obese. Later, “Coleman published [the] findings in 1973 in Diabetologia…the article described the experiments and offered a tantalizing explanation. Coleman theorized that normal mice produce a satiety factor that ravels through the blood to the brain, and signals the mouse to stop eating. Obese mice, he theorized, lack this factor” (62). In other words, Coleman hypothesized that obesity have something to do with DNA and genes.
Sims is a physician who is investigating the link between obesity and diabetes. He is interested if “people are born fat or are made fat” (80). When he conducts his experiment, he realized that people who become obese are people who have a family history of obesity.
Not until many years later when a group of scientist who still using mice to continue Coleman’s experiment on the satiety factor, and found out that “a molecule produce in the fat coded for by a gene that was mutant in obese mice” (96). As the scientist investigate on the mutation, they found out that there is “a change in a single base pair: a simple trade of thymine for cytosine” (98). This gene is name leptin. The result of the experiment is that in the obese mice, no leptin is found, and when leptin is injected to the obese mice, the mice stop overeating and starting to lose weight.
Later, Stephen O’Rahilly injected leptin into a child, and that child start to lose weight and not overeating herself. However, he later found out that some people with a good level of leptin but still obese. It is explained as “leptin resistance” (118). If a person who does not have a leptin receptor gene, he/she still cannot send the message to the brain. Therefore, these complicated concepts are still in the process of investigation and many scientists are looking for treatments as well.
As it describes in the book, some scientist devoted their whole live on finding treatments for obesity, for instance Coleman. He first experiment with mice, and investigates where mutation happened that makes the mice becomes obese. Later, “Coleman published [the] findings in 1973 in Diabetologia…the article described the experiments and offered a tantalizing explanation. Coleman theorized that normal mice produce a satiety factor that ravels through the blood to the brain, and signals the mouse to stop eating. Obese mice, he theorized, lack this factor” (62). In other words, Coleman hypothesized that obesity have something to do with DNA and genes.
Sims is a physician who is investigating the link between obesity and diabetes. He is interested if “people are born fat or are made fat” (80). When he conducts his experiment, he realized that people who become obese are people who have a family history of obesity.
Not until many years later when a group of scientist who still using mice to continue Coleman’s experiment on the satiety factor, and found out that “a molecule produce in the fat coded for by a gene that was mutant in obese mice” (96). As the scientist investigate on the mutation, they found out that there is “a change in a single base pair: a simple trade of thymine for cytosine” (98). This gene is name leptin. The result of the experiment is that in the obese mice, no leptin is found, and when leptin is injected to the obese mice, the mice stop overeating and starting to lose weight.
Later, Stephen O’Rahilly injected leptin into a child, and that child start to lose weight and not overeating herself. However, he later found out that some people with a good level of leptin but still obese. It is explained as “leptin resistance” (118). If a person who does not have a leptin receptor gene, he/she still cannot send the message to the brain. Therefore, these complicated concepts are still in the process of investigation and many scientists are looking for treatments as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2008
The Hungry Gene is nonfiction book by Ellen Ruppel Shell. This book is about the facts behind obesity and the ways to stay healthy. Many people today spend a lot of money to get the “IT” look to satisfy society. There are actually people who need to go through an operation called gastric bypass to lose weight. The operation is a terrifying one because there are many risks and a possibility the operation might not go through.
A major theme for this book is awareness in society. Many people don’t know that obesity is very dangerous and people can actually die from being too overweight. People think obese people are anxious, unbalanced people who turned to food as a form of sublimation or escape. They are not aware of the reasons those people turn to food. In addition to meet everyone’s expectation, “one of nine people willing to give up five years to die slim” (47). On the other hand some people chose to go into raw dieting which can be unhealthy to lose weight. Thin people might turn to food at time of stress, but later on eat less which is very unhealthy.
People discovered from an experiment that people who have a history of family obesity are most likely to become obese. It stated from research and evidence that “the idea that a fundamental human behavior like eating is not to some degree genetic” (106). Many food merchandisers seek in this century a land of opportunities. Therefore shoppers have to be aware of what they shop for to eat.
To prevent obesities, people have to be more active. When people stop moving, their regulation fails. People don’t know that “childhood obesity in the United Sates jumped from 5 percent in 1964 to 14 percent in 1999 “(189). It is studied that kids are healthier when they watch less TV then a child that watch over five hours of television each day. It is proved that TV consumes more food and less energy. Relating to society today, there are a few public awareness but the words are not loud and clear enough. Bill Clinton is a spokes person for obesity awareness. The author stated that “those messages should be designed by the sharpest minds on Madison Avenue, and broadcast not on Sunday morning at 6 A.M but during prime time” (234). Furthermore in order for a healthier country, we need to set awareness to people.
A major theme for this book is awareness in society. Many people don’t know that obesity is very dangerous and people can actually die from being too overweight. People think obese people are anxious, unbalanced people who turned to food as a form of sublimation or escape. They are not aware of the reasons those people turn to food. In addition to meet everyone’s expectation, “one of nine people willing to give up five years to die slim” (47). On the other hand some people chose to go into raw dieting which can be unhealthy to lose weight. Thin people might turn to food at time of stress, but later on eat less which is very unhealthy.
People discovered from an experiment that people who have a history of family obesity are most likely to become obese. It stated from research and evidence that “the idea that a fundamental human behavior like eating is not to some degree genetic” (106). Many food merchandisers seek in this century a land of opportunities. Therefore shoppers have to be aware of what they shop for to eat.
To prevent obesities, people have to be more active. When people stop moving, their regulation fails. People don’t know that “childhood obesity in the United Sates jumped from 5 percent in 1964 to 14 percent in 1999 “(189). It is studied that kids are healthier when they watch less TV then a child that watch over five hours of television each day. It is proved that TV consumes more food and less energy. Relating to society today, there are a few public awareness but the words are not loud and clear enough. Bill Clinton is a spokes person for obesity awareness. The author stated that “those messages should be designed by the sharpest minds on Madison Avenue, and broadcast not on Sunday morning at 6 A.M but during prime time” (234). Furthermore in order for a healthier country, we need to set awareness to people.
October 10, 2012
I loved this book- in large part because if was extremely well written and covered a diverse number of topics related to obesity research. Science journalist Ellen R. Shell has brought to life the history of fad diets, the cut-throat quest to identify the obese gene and the multi-national drug companies that viciously pursue weight loss solutions no matter the consequences. Although an increasing number of books related to obesity have covered familiar topics (industrial food web & high calorie foods), Shell delivers an innovative story centered on the contribution of molecular biology and genetics. Unfortunately this book was written in 2002, 5 years prior to the exciting genome wide associations studies (GWAS) that would help identify more obesity genes, and kind of fizzles out after discussing the ob/ob mouse and the leptin gene. The last half of the book fades to familiar territory: fast food and the implications of faltering national policies related to agriculture. Overall, I recommend the Hungry Gene to people with a desire to learn about the personalities, ambition, and betrayal that drove the discovery of the leptin- the other topics presented in this book leave the reader wanting more.
September 4, 2011
Ellen Ruppel Shell writes for the Atlantic and I think this work is quite interesting. It is wonderfully scientific, but has a great, wonderful narrative. It is never boring. It was interesting to learn about the efforts of drug companies to create a drug for weight loss - fenfen, drugs to control leptin, one of the hormones that controls hunger. Ruppel Shell even does a section about nature versus nurture - i.e. the weight of identical twins separated and raised by different families, and about the effect of improper nutrition while a woman is pregnant, specifically by looking at the case of a city in Holland which was blockaded during World War II and the resulting weight of the women who were pregnant during that time period. Suffice it to say that improper nutrition for women who are pregnant drastically impacts the weight of their children and their appetites.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2022
Very inviting intro story but too lengthy and disorganized scientific details about obesity. The details are helpful but if could be presented in a more succinct way.
November 15, 2011
A co-worker loaned this book to me with the warning that it would be "preaching to the choir." And she was right, it was.
**tiny spoiler**
This book examines obesity on a nature vs. nurture basis. And the insights were pretty interesting, especially the part about the importance of diet during pregnancy (basically if you are undergoing starvation during your first and second trimesters, your baby has a higher possibility of being obese because their metabolism/appetite is screwed up before they are even born).
This book was published in 2002, and there's lots of science mentioned, so that means it's all pretty much 10 years old. I would like to read a sequel written now and see what/if things have changed.
**tiny spoiler**
This book examines obesity on a nature vs. nurture basis. And the insights were pretty interesting, especially the part about the importance of diet during pregnancy (basically if you are undergoing starvation during your first and second trimesters, your baby has a higher possibility of being obese because their metabolism/appetite is screwed up before they are even born).
This book was published in 2002, and there's lots of science mentioned, so that means it's all pretty much 10 years old. I would like to read a sequel written now and see what/if things have changed.
January 2, 2011
Excellent exploration of the causes of obesity in America. Ellen Shell presents the history of obesity research as a story, each scientist has a hobby or a background story so they become more than just a lab rat. While Shell discusses everything from genetics to diet pills, she does so in a very clear way which is easy for anyone to understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the contributors to obesity and the science behind our understanding.
December 9, 2008
An interesting read, but not as engrossing as I'd hoped. The science was good, but the sociology lost something at the end -- Yes, the fast food industry and the modern lifestyle has made it very easy to get fat, but the impression I took away was that the fix was to lobby for government regulation, with no mention of individual solutions.
February 22, 2010
Interesting; a little dense. I enjoyed the description of the rat experiments and how the various failsafes in the human body have made it impossible to target a single component for weight loss. It loses focus the last couple chapters when it starts railing against "Big Food" and trying to frantically solve the modern obesity problem in a few pages.
November 24, 2014
I earned a Masters in Physiology in the 1990s and I remember the optimism surrounding leptin. I found the details presented in the book to be fascinating. So much is yet to be discovered, but this is a great introduction to what is known. Those who read this book wanting to know what gene makes them fat will be disappointed - scientists don't know that yet.
October 9, 2011
I would have liked a stronger conclusion: So, it's genes AND environment. No, gene therapy isn't for you. Yes, you should watch what you eat, but it's not ALL your fault and being fat shouldn't be stigmatized. Or something.
Read
January 7, 2010An interesting look at the evolution of the obesity epidemic.
March 12, 2011
I find it interesting that the copy of the book I have has a sub-title of "The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin" not "The Inside Story of the obesity Industry."
June 10, 2011
AMAZING BOOK! It really opened my eyes to so many things that I now carry around with me always.
February 24, 2014
More of a 3.5
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews